Rocky Flats workers no longer must prove cancers are work-related

[bananas]

Source: Denver Post

Former workers at Golden's Rocky Flats Plant, which manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons, no longer have to reconstruct their own personal histories of radiation exposure in order to receive medical compensation.

It is now presumed that, if they worked at the Cold War machine shop or other designated nuclear weapons sites for at least 250 days between April 1, 1952, and Dec. 31, 1983, their cancers — if one of 22 specified by the government — are work-related.

Covered diseases include multiple myeloma and cancers of the brain, breast, colon, thyroid and liver, among others, if onset was at least five years after first exposure.

"This is very good news, but I'm also very frustrated it's taken this many years for the government to do what was always blatantly obvious," said former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez of Arvada, who advocated for workers. "I fear some people aren't around to finally receive their benefits."

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Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25174934/rocky-flats-workers-no-longer-must-prove-cancers

[bananas]

1. The U.S. Department of Labor will host two town hall meetings Wednesday and two Thursday. nt

[prairierose]

2. My great uncle died of brain cancer years ago...

after working there for a few years. This was long before anyone acknowledged that radiation exposure on the job could cause cancer.

[wordpix]

3. a bit late to help people with cancer, wouldn't you say?

[XemaSab]

4. There are real concerns with radiation exposure

and this is one of them.

BTW, they made most of the area a wildlife refuge.

[El_Johns]

5. "I fear some people aren't around to finally receive their benefits."

Ya think?

By design.